CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago's rush to secure space in a public park for Barack Obama's presidential library is drawing suspicions about backroom deals and personal politics as tangled as the ivy at Wrigley Field.
Most Chicagoans would be shocked if Obama didn't bring his library to the city where his political career began. But it has been equally shocking to some that the University of Chicago proposed building it on park land that the school did not control.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama's former chief of staff, has proposed an ordinance that would allow the library to be built on the land if Obama chooses the university's proposal over rival bids.
The suspicions arise from the strong ties between City Hall, the Obama administration and the school where both the president his wife worked.
